FIC--Righting a Wrong (4/5)

[ficsbydeenas]

Title: Righting a Wrong, chapter 4 of 5
Rating: R for sexual situations and language
Pairing: Harry/Ginny, reference to Harry/Andromeda
Words: 3724
Summary: The pieces fall into place as his world falls apart.
Warnings: Angst...yes, you read that right...
Beta: queenb23more

Righting a Wrong



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4

*~*~*~*~*

Harry stood outside the Harpies' clubhouse; they'd just won a hard-fought battle, the match having lasted for more than five hours. It was a brilliant match, Harry had to admit; the Seekers were extremely physical and the Beaters were ruthless. He had to stop himself from jumping over the stands the three times that Ginny was hit with a Bludger. Thankfully, she recovered quickly and none of the hits caused any damage.

The only downside of the match was that he was not included with the Weasley family since, for the first time since Ginny began playing, he wasn't sent a ticket for the family box. He expected it, really, after the fiasco of telling Ginny about him and Andromeda. So instead of being surrounded by the people he most cared about in the world, he was sequestered to a general admission seat with an obscured view. He didn't mind, really, since she wouldn't have been able to see him, like she could up in the family box. Besides, the people around him made the match much more enjoyable with all their bawdy talk and drunken revelry.

When the match ended in a Harpies' victory, Harry was thrilled. If they had lost, Harry doubted that Ginny would even say 'boo' to him; this way, she'd at least be in a good mood. Usually after a win, Harry and the rest of the Weasleys would head to the clubhouse for a raucous celebration. At those parties, he was so proud of Ginny—the way she talked animatedly with people and how she oozed confidence. That was the Ginny he'd fallen in love with and was still in love with today. But instead, he was confined to a corridor outside the door that stated 'Invited Guests Only,' and since he wasn't invited, he'd spent the last two hours under his Invisibility Cloak, waiting for Ginny to emerge. If she kept her usual routine, she'd be one of the last to leave.

As he sat there, he thought of ways to apologize to her, each scenario more pathetic than the next. The words he'd planned out in his head just kept sounding more and more pitiful. He very nearly left a couple times after having convinced himself that it was over forever.

Harry looked up when he heard Ron's familiar voice rehashing every moment of the match with George, who was talking with his hands, a habit he’d taken up since Fred's death, explaining once that it made him feel like he had someone to talk to if he waved them around. Harry was overwhelmed by a sense of longing for that camaraderie with Ron again when he and George laughed, and Harry watched as Hermione leapt upon Ron's back and he carried her past as he and George sang a rowdy Quidditch song. Harry couldn't take his eyes off his friends and he gasped when Hermione turned around and mouthed 'She misses you.'

I hope so, he told himself and resumed his waiting.

Another forty-five minutes passed before Ginny emerged, her hair still damp from the shower he knew she'd taken after the match. The scent of her flowery body wash brought back memories of showers that they'd taken together, making his trousers tighten in the crotch. Oh, how he missed her.

He watched in silence as she said goodbye to the remaining teammates and soaked in the sound of her voice, something he'd particularly missed these last few days. The two players left, leaving Ginny alone in the foyer of the building.

"Take off the cloak, Harry. I know you're there," she said in his general direction.

Harry unveiled himself and put on his best 'take-me-back' face.

"Hey."

"Hello." She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him.

"Can we talk?"

"We are now."

"Ginny, come on. Please." He never knew his voice could sound so pitiful.

Ginny sighed and relaxed her posture, uncrossing her arms and placing them behind her back.

"Harry, I…I'm—Shite, this is hard!" She growled and ran her hands through her hair. "Damnit, Harry, you hurt me!"

"I know that, and I'm hurting, too," he answered, feeling all the emotions of the last few days threaten to unleash themselves; he fought to keep himself under control. "I feel embarrassed and guilty and lonely and ashamed of myself."

"Good. Because I felt the same way," she softly said to the floor.

The approaching steps of a security guard broke the relative silence around them and Harry put his hand tentatively on her shoulder.

"Can we go somewhere else, please?" Touching her again felt wonderful and the fact that she allowed him to was encouraging.

She merely nodded, closing her eyes as he began stroking her shoulder.

"Home?" he asked hopefully.

The guard's footsteps drew nearer and louder.

"Okay," she said with a nod.

At least that's a start, he thought.

The two of them disappeared, Disapparating one after the other. Harry opened his eyes and found Ginny already sitting in her chair in the study, her legs crossed. She looked so small sitting there. He looked closer and noticed that she had lost some weight in the short time she'd been gone. He sat on the ottoman in front of the chair and leaned forward on his knees, gathering his thoughts.

"Nice match today." Oh bloody hell, Potter, nice move!

Ginny let out a little laugh. "Er..thanks."

"'snot what I wanted to say."

"So it was a bad match?" She went on the defensive again. "Tell me, Harry, what do you want to talk to me about?"

He took a deep breath to calm himself down, knowing that arguing with her wouldn't fix a thing.

"I miss you, Ginny. I love you and I want you to come back home to me. I can't stand being apart from you, and I am sorry about what happened. If I could change things, I would," he tried to reassure her.

"I know, Harry. Believe me, I've thought about all this, too. What do you think I've been doing all this time? I've been at Ron's, storming around their flat, being an absolute banshee to everyone because my pride's been hurt and my heart crushed," Ginny reminded him.

"Well, then, what am I supposed to say to you?"

She pulled her legs out from under her and leaned forward, taking his hands in hers. He took that as a good sign that things just might work out.

"Let's assume that she never cast the spell wiping out your memory. How would you have told me?"

He hadn't expected that at all. Her response was logical and perhaps the only thing that made sense. She must have discussed this with Hermione, he thought.

"That's reasonable." He paused and closed his eyes to gather his thoughts while she held his hands. The warmth of her hands on his gave him strength. "But Gin, I don't know if I can."

"This is the only way, Harry. I need to know why—that's the toughest thing for me to accept. How could you do it?"

"Fine."

He dropped her hands and walked over to the fireplace, starting a fire on the grill. As he watched the flames dance and flicker, he thought back to that night and how things progressed and what he was feeling. He never contemplated this before now.

"Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I always thought she was attractive, you know, in a Rosmerta kind of way."

"You, too?"

"Sorry…It's just that she's pretty and older and—"

"You can stop with praising her beauty, Harry." She smiled, making him feel a tad better. "Please continue."

"Okay, we were having tea and talking about Tonks and Remus, and well, she just started crying. I went over to her and she cried against my chest. I felt…I dunno, masculine at that moment." He looked up, expecting her to say something. When she didn't, he continued, "She was right there…and you and I…we hadn't got back together. She looked so lost and I guess I couldn't help myself. I kissed her…and it was nice. Part of me knew I should stop, but the other part was telling me to keep going because it had been such a long time since you had kissed me. I think I tried to convince myself that she was you.

"When she kissed me back, I couldn't stop. The year had been so lonely and so difficult. I needed some sort of contact, strange as it sounds. I wanted to know that someone needed me for me and not the hero that I'd become. It was selfish, I know, but…it had been so long since I'd done anything for myself. Do you know what I mean?"

"Yes," she said softly, barely above a whisper. He waited for her continue, but she merely diverted her eyes. "Go ahead and finish."

"Are you okay?"

She didn't answer and continued to worry her lip between her teeth.

"So we went to the spare room and …" He couldn't finish. Their eyes met and the tears that were brimming in her eyes caused a tightening in his chest, and he fought back his own tears.

"How many times?" Her voice was sharp and cut him to the quick.

"Ginny—"

"How many times did you fuck her, Harry?" Despite her words, her voice wasn't angry, but sad and determined; she merely wanted answers.

"Two…twice," he admitted. He closed his eyes, hating the fact that he had to admit he'd wanted Andromeda again.

"What else?" Ginny asked without feeling.

His mouth fell open but no words would come. Admitting the things he'd done with her, the things he'd learned, was not something he expected to have to do. The conversation was going fine and then she had to ask that.

"Answer the question, Harry. I need to know."

Harry got up and walked to the liquor cabinet. He really wanted to get himself a drink but that wouldn't change anything with Ginny, no matter how much he wanted it to. In a way, he knew she was right. If there was to be any hope for a future between them, he had to be honest with her. Everything had to be aired out, no matter how painful, and he knew it would be for them both. He looked out the window at the people walking along the street who would never see him.

"Did you go down on her?" her voice came what seemed like miles away.

"Yes."

"I showed you how to do that at school."

"I remember."

"Did she?"

"Almost. I didn't let her."

"Why?" Ginny asked, her voice a bit shaky.

"I was too close. I didn't want her mouth."

"But you wanted her twice."

He nodded, knowing she could see him, and felt as if he would vomit.

"Did you scream out her name?" she asked in a dreadfully sarcastic tone.

"No," he answered simply. "Yours. I wanted it to be you."

"Somehow, I don't believe that, Harry," she replied. "You've never been one to forget who you're with. You're too noble." The last word was like a stab in the heart.

She rose from the chair and began to leave, which irritated Harry. Her temper was going to drive them apart if he didn't do anything to change her mind.

"GINEVRA…stop! You want to know what happened? Fine!" His voice reverberated against the wood-panelled walls, stopping her short in her steps. "Sit!"

He watched as Ginny plaintively retreated to her chair before he headed back to the ottoman. There was a sharp pang of longing in his chest when he noticed how defeated she looked; she looked so fragile just then, making him want to gather her up in his arms and hold her until all the nasty business was gone.

He felt his own anger and disgust build up inside him and he couldn't help what came out. "She screamed for her dead husband and I went hoarse calling out your name. She wanted sex, that's all," he said, his voice full of bitterness and anger

"But every time I was with you, who did I call out? Whose name was on my lips?" He paused and looked at her, daring her to say anything. "It was you and always has been! Even if I remembered this from the beginning, I'd still have told you and you know it, Gin. You know I could never keep something like that a secret from you. Hell, look what's happened to me every time I've tried to make love to you since I found out!

"And answer me this—do you think I told her I loved HER when you were the one I thought of right before I died out there in the Forest? D'you honestly think that if we had been together, if you had actually started talking to me again when that funeral went on, that I would have even have done that? You ignored me for a week after Fred's funeral, Ginny!"

"My brother DIED, Harry!" she shrieked. "My family needed me more than you did!"

They both stood up facing each other, eyes wide and chests heaving.

"And who did I have? Did I have parents who needed comforting? Did I have brothers who grieved with me? You were all I had and you didn't even ask me if I was okay."

"And who pretended to be dead? Did you hear me scream, Harry? I wanted to run over to you and take you in my arms and cry! McGonagall had to hold me back…I would've killed Tom myself just for that!"

"And got yourself killed in the process!"

"SHUT UP! I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself but you made me stay in that bloody room while everyone else—"

"Was DYING! I meant what I said at Dumbledore's funeral, Ginny. If it was yours, I would have died myself. If I knew you were hurt, I'd have no reason to keep fighting," he shouted. He suddenly stopped speaking and ran a hand through his hair. "Damn it! Didn't we have this argument two years ago?"

Ginny's response was silence, her mouth open and her eyes darting back and forth as if she were trying to remember all the things they had argued about.

"So why are we arguing about this again? We settled it then," she reminded him, appearing dazed and confused.

"I know," he said weakly. "We were discussing—"

"Discussing? You were the one who started shouting!" she pointed out to him.

He growled in frustration and spun around, making himself a little dizzy in the process and swaying a bit. He closed his eyes to steady himself and breathed deeply to settle himself down.

"What would you have said? If I had known the whole time?"

The room went silent and he heard Ginny take a couple steps toward him. Her hand settled on his shoulder and he relished the warmth of her touch.

"I'd be angry at the least."

"I'd say you're a bit more than angry, Ginny," he answered, still not looking at her. "You stormed out of here without listening to what I had to say about it."

"And you didn't even bother coming after me when I left," she stated flatly. "You hurt me. More than I thought you could."

"We weren't together then, remember?" He turned around just in time to have her slap him hard across the face. His hand went to his stinging cheek.

"And that's supposed to make everything okay?" The fire was back in her eyes. "If you recall, I never really said, 'Okay, Harry, I'm done with you.' I never went out with anyone else while you were gone and believe me, there were opportunities. I kissed you on your birthday so you'd know that I still cared and still thought of you as my boyfriend. So in my mind, you cheated on me!"

"I'M SORRY! How often do I have to apologize to you for this?"

"Until I'm ready to forgive you." She stepped out the room and Disapparated.

---

Harry sat at his desk, contemplating Ron's arrival. Harry had arrived thirty minutes early, primarily to figure out what he was going to say to his friend. He knew that Ron had taken it hard when he'd learned of Harry's one night stand with Andromeda and they hadn't spoken since. They needed to work things out between them if there was any hope of getting back with Ginny.

"Potter here?" came Ron's voice from outside the door; he was obviously speaking with the assistant stationed a few feet from Harry's door.

"Yes, he is, Mr. Weasley," answered Glinda Goodditch sweetly. "He beat me in today."

Harry took a deep breath and listened to Ron's footsteps draw closer, looking up when they stopped at his door.

"Feeling better?" Ron's voice was thick with sarcasm.

"I wasn't—"

"I know that! Saturday, Ginny came home screaming again. She lost control of her magic and we had to restrain her," he stated as if it were a normal occurrence.

"What? Why didn't you tell me? Is she okay? Is she hurt?" Harry panicked as he got up from his chair and ran to Ron, taking his friend by the shoulders and nearly shaking him.

Ron threw off Harry's hands and pushed him backwards against the desk. Fear replaced panic, and for the first time in his life, Harry thought Ron would hurt him.

"I told you years ago not to hurt her! I trusted you to take care of her and make sure nothing happened to her, and you go and do something stupid, Harry!" Ron stepped forward and pushed Harry again.

"I wasn't my fault! Don't you remember what happened to me?" He pushed Ron. "If I knew this happened, I would have told her!"

"After waiting two weeks like you did this time? That's real smart, Harry. You know she hates being kept in the dark!" Ron shoved Harry a bit harder this time, sending him into his desk and knocking over some picture frames onto the floor.

"Don't. Push. Me!" Harry shouted, punctuating each word with a jab at Ron's chest. He withdrew his wand from its holster and bound Ron with a quick spell, causing him to tumble to the floor.

"Mr. Pott—Oh dear!" exclaimed Glinda as she appeared in the doorway, bending down to help Ron off the floor. "Do we need security in here?" The usually sweet woman was shockingly angry and removed the spell on Ron, helping him to the floor. "Now I may not know what the hell you two are going on about, but I do know that you are the best of friends. Either work it out or I'll get Psych down here to straighten you two out!"

Harry backed off and straightened his robes, glaring at Ron and Glinda. The last thing he needed was the psychiatric department shoving their noses into his business.

"He started it!" Harry shouted like a ten-year-old.

The room began to shake and both men turned to Glinda. Her face was suddenly green and her hair shiny black, a stark contrast to the fair-skinned blonde he was used to.

"ENOUGH!" she squealed. With a wave of her wand, her Patronus, a large cobra, slithered around the office between the men and her. "Now please, don't make me change completely!"

"Wha—what are you?" Harry stammered.

"You big twat, she's part Gorgon. If you'd ever stop and talk to her, you'd know that!" Ron screamed at Harry.

Glinda smiled and her hair changed back to blonde, but her skin remained the colour of limes. "Thank you, Mr. Weasley."

"Gorgon? You're part Gorgon?" Harry asked, still baffled that he missed that one.

"That's not important, Mr. Potter. You two need to work this out before O'Shannon gets down here and that should be in about, oh—" She looked at her watch. "About five minutes. If you don't, I'm telling him."

She turned on her heel and headed back toward her desk, the door closing on its own behind her.

"Well, that was scary," Ron stated, throwing himself onto one of the chairs in the office.

"Not as scary as your sister."

"Speaking of which, why do you still speak in a tenor voice? I would've thought Ginny'd castrated you by now."

"Funny, Ron." Harry sat in the chair behind his desk, mostly to protect himself from Ron's anger. "She left before she had the chance."

"Lucky you." Ron said flatly. "Now, tell me why I shouldn't kill you for crushing my sister's heart into itty bitty pieces." Ron leaned back in the chair and placed his feet on Harry's desk, crossing them at the ankle. "I'm waiting."

Harry and Ron remained in deep conversation for the next ten minutes. They remained civil toward each other, and when Victor O'Shannon, their battalion captain, arrived for work, they were talking calmly to each other. It took thirty-three minutes total (Glinda told them later) to iron out everything between them, leaving them both drained and emotionally spent. They didn't come to blows again, but there were several slight explosions of magic between them.

"You've got your work cut out for you, mate," Ron mused as he stood by the door.

"Tell me about it," Harry said as he rubbed his temples. "So when can I kidnap your sister? I mean, she's not going to let me in the door, and I know she won't come willingly to the house."

"How about I send Hermione a memo and have her take Ginny somewhere, you know, do girl-stuff, get her all relaxed, maybe get some wine into her?" Ron raised his eyebrows, seemingly hoping Harry would agree.

Harry nodded. "Nothing stronger, and only two glasses of wine. She's—"

"A mean drunk," they said together, the first crack of laughter making its presence, immediately making the mood in Harry's office lighter.

"Have Hermione take her to that Italian place outside Diagon Alley."

"Fabricio's? Ginny likes that place," Ron said with a small smile.

"I—I know." That was the place he was going to propose.

"Harry…she'll come 'round. She just has to."